Amit Katoch
Jammu, Oct 24: Former MLC Vikramaditya Singh, who recently resigned from the PDP, said the trust deficit between Jammu and Kashmir regions has widened after the demise of the former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was also the founder of the party.
“A lot has changed after the demise of Mufti Sayeed. There has been transformational change in the attitude of the party both about me and Jammu region. The trust deficit started developing and I was feeling isolated. And, even my party (PDP) was not comfortable with the issues raised by me concerning the Jammu region,” he told the Excelsior in an interview today.
Vikrmadtiya had resigned on Sunday citing the reasons that PDP was not sensitive to the aspirations and sensitivities of the Jammu region. Some of the specifics raised by him were non declaration of Government holiday on the birth day of erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh, his grandfather, and the settlement of the Rohingayas in the Jammu.
The scion of erstwhile ruling family of the State, was highly critical of the what he termed as ‘Kashmir Centric’ policies pursued successively by both Central and State Governments. He said this approach has resulted in creation of a regional imbalance.
“Unfortunately the structure of the State has been formed and evolved in a manner allowing political and constitutions rights to Kashmir dominated society. And, even the governance is Kashmir centric. This approach has created many problems,” he said.
Former MLC in his resignation letter has also raised these issues. He said the power or governance structure needs to be reviewed and debated, even if it’s a sensitive matter.
Vikramditya, is married to Chitrangada Raje Scindia, daughter of the former Railways Minister Madhavrao Scindia. His father MP Dr Karan Singh is one of the tallest leaders of the Congress party, and his brother is the BJP MLC.
He said the Kashmir Centric policies have been dominating the Jammu region and , which he said is not acceptable to the people of the region.
“There is dire need to bring structural changes in governance model to end regional disparity, which sadly but factly is being followed in the state for decades,” he said
To a question, Vikramaditya does acknowledge that his resignation has received positive response in the Jammu region but was not forthcoming in divulging details of his future plans. Interestingly, he didn’t outrightly rejected the idea of floating a new party .
Vikramaditya questioned the BJP for being silent over the issue delimitation. He said the BJP, which is a coalition partner, to adopt and come out with new thought process as Jammu is a very important.
“There can’t be just Kashmir centric discussions any longer,” he said
Vikramditya appreciated GOIs efforts to bring pace in Kashmir and appointing Interlocutor for “Sustained Dialogue Process” in J&K,
He, however raised questions over the finding and reports of past commissions and said nothing positive and result oriented have come out of them till date.
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